Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter will both hit the free agent market

We know that the Carolina Hurricanes have a very definitive stance on players pending free agency. They will not sign a player for more than they are worth, and while that is okay, it does mean that yet more of the roster is going to be walking away this season. While there is still a lot of time between now and the beginning of free agency, Carolina will see two of its better players hit the free-agent market.

Nino Niederreiter will be the first player we know of that will be testing the waters of the frenzy on July 13th. His agent confirmed that to Pierre LeBrun a couple of days ago. Although a return to Raleigh might still be on the cards, he is going to see if he can find a better contract in the free-agent waters and this is a dangerous proposition for the Hurricanes moving forward.

Replacing El Nino is not going to be easy with the Swiss winger having been the Canes’ third highest goal scorer from this past season. 24 goals and 20 assists for 44 points put up among the top six Canes producers in the last year. He’s a major part of the team and on his own, he is going to leave a massive gap in this forward core that the Hurricanes are going to need to fill. But he isn’t the only one.

Vincent Trocheck is also going to find himself testing the free-agent market. We know less about the situation with the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native, but we know that he is going to test the market and that there’s going to be a lot that needs to be refilled when we get around to the start of free agency on Thursday. We know that this is going to be a very difficult summer for the organization.

Whatever happens, we know these two have served this organization well. Nino has been in Raleigh since January 2019 when he was acquired from Minnesota. Trocheck was a deadline acquisition from the Florida Panthers in exchange for four pieces. Both have been major parts of the Hurricanes’ top nine and past playoff pushes, and both will be getting a well-deserved payday this summer.